Artistic Cinderella
by BlackBelt101
Summary: Rena Carlson is a girl who dreams of being an artist. But her stepmom, and two mean stepsisters are trying to get her to do just the opposite. Lucas Lambent is the son of a successful artist. Lucas is suddenly transferring to Rena's school. Is he the opportunity Rena is looking for? Or will her stepfamily ruin it all? And who is the mystery girl at the dance?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1- Introduction

**Note:** hey guys! This is my first story, so let me know what you think. Read &amp; review!

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**Chapter 1**

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

I groan loudly as I roll over to silence my alarm clock. _Another day at school,_ I thought, as I forced my body up from my bed and got dressed. I lazily threw on a plain royal blue tee-shirt, dark wash jeans, and purple converse. I brushed my teeth and tried to brush my unruly hair. Tried to. As soon as I got my backpack all ready, I heard the communicator on the wall beep.

"Rena! Get your lazy butt up here and make our breakfast," screamed my horrible stepmother.

"Yes. stepmother Be right there," I replied back.

"You better, you ungrateful little child," she grumbled.

With that, I shoved the art project I worked on the whole night into my purple backpack and hurried to the kitchen. My room is in the very back of the house. Like literally the very back, so I practically have to run. Lucky me, right?

I think I should explain a bit here. Let me introduce myself. My name is Rena Carlson. I'm seventeen years old. I'm a junior at Henman High. I live in a two-story house with my stepmom and my two stepsisters. Or as I call them the witch and her flying monkeys. Not to their face, of course. I wish though. My mother died when I was four due to a car accident. My father married my stepmom, Brenda, when I was nine. He died a year later from lung cancer when I was ten.

My dad taught me how to draw. I inherited his talent to draw. He also taught me to be strong and to stand up for myself. He's the reason I won't back down to anyone, especially Brenda and my two stepsisters, Carly and Nicole. I also have a best friend, Jayne. She's like me in every way possible. That's why we are so good for each other.

Brenda, my stepmom, wears way too much makeup and in my opinion, it makes her look like a clown. She has platinum blonde hair, and always wears the latest fashion clothes. She used to be in the modeling and actressing business and now thinks she can run this world. She is always pushing Carly and Nicole to follow in her footsteps and looks in disdain at me because I'm an artist. Onto the stepsisters. Nicole is the oldest. She has platinum wavy blonde hair, wears way too much makeup (like mother like daughter), and acts just like her mother. Carly is the youngest of the two. She has big straight brown hair and always wears the trashiest clothes on planet Earth. And, oh yah, she's just like her mother, too. I guess I'm the odd one out. Together, they rule the school. Their considered the "popular ones" and are the trend makers and everyone worships them. Pftt, whatever.

I was interrupted from my thoughts to see Nicole standing in the doorway of the kitchen.

"Thank God, You're here. I'm starving!" That's Nicole, for ya. Always whining her butt off.

"Why don't you make your own breakfast," I asked.

"Because, that's your job. Now, go."

"I will once you move out-of-the-way. you're kinda blocking the doorway with that big head of yours. You should really get that looked at. I think your brain is swelling. Oh, wait you don't have a brain. My bad," I said sarcastically. She gaped at me and her eyes widened, but didn't say a word and moved. I pushed past her. I put three pieces of toast in the toaster, got out the peanut butter and jam, got milk out of the fridge, and put out three cups and plates out of the cabinet. I put their toast, one with jam, and two with peanut butter, on the pates. and poured the milk in the glasses as soon as Brenda, Carly, and Nicole walked in.

"There you are! Good, you have breakfast ready." Brenda said. She didn't say anything about me insulting Nicole, which was weird.

"Finally! I've been waited all morning," Carly whined. I just rolled my eyes and got out a granola bar and some apple juice.

"Come along, girls, you'll be late," Brenda sweetly. They walked out of the house and got in the car. They wouldn't let me ride in the car with them so, I had to ride my skateboard to school everyday. Oh, ya. One thing I forgot to mention, Jayne and I, we're pretty much the victims of Nicole's and Carly's bullying. Which means slushes and sodas dumped on our head. Relentless insults and petty comments. From everyone that's in the cheerleading squad and the football players. Nicole's and Carly's minions as we like to call them.

Lets just hope I don't make a fool of myself today.

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Thanks guy! Remember, Review! XD


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2- The Meeting

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RING!

Finally, Lunch. My favorite time of day. I walked up to my locker and put my books away. Jayne slams her locker, which is right next to mine.

"Hey girl," I said to her.

"Hey, have you heard the news?" She frantically waved her arms in my face.

"No, what news?" I stopped her arms and turned to walked down the hall to our lunch spot.

"Only the biggest news in the history of our school. Lucas Lambent is coming here to finish his last two years of school. _Our_ school. Apparently he's hosting the Artistic Contest for teens! And his dad is sponsoring the contest!" She shouted.

"That would explain why there's limos and screaming teenage girls with posters in the front of the school right now." Sure enough a long black limo pulled up with tinted windows. Everywhere the eye could see girls were running to stand waiting for Lucas to come out. "Yah, poor kid. He won't know what hit him-" My sentence was cut short because I rammed into a hard wall.

"Oh. I'm so sorry." A male voice came from above me. Correction, it wasn't a wall I ran into, it was a boy. Great. Just my luck. Another humiliating thing. "It's fine. I wasn't looking where I was going," I said as I tried to collect my book fast.

"Here. Let me." the stranger bent down and picked up my science book. He held out his hand for me to take. I looked at the hand for a second. He must have noticed my hesitation because he laughed and said, "It's just a hand." I took it and he pulled me up. Man, he's so strong!

I realized Jayne has been quiet this whole time. She's been standing there with her mouth open. Huh, I wonder why. I turned to look at the stranger and instantly know why. Standing before me is a gorgeous green-eyed, shaggy dirty blonde hair, muscular, six-foot tall Lucas Lambent. He's the son of millionaire artist, Steve Lambent. He's a model for the teen magazines, and an artist himself.

"You know it's not polite to stare." He smirked at me. That snapped me out of my daze.

"You know it's not polite to run into people." I countered back. He just laughed. God, his eyes are just so sexy. No, stop it Rena. Don't think these things.

"Well, the girls I bump into are usually all over me." I scoff. Gezz, the audacity of this guy. He thinks he's so cool doesn't he?

"Well, not everyone is the same brainwashed teenage fan-girl that you encounter. Anyways, aren't you supposed to be meeting your fans now? There are a ton of girls over there waiting for your pretty face to jump out of that limousine." Upon seeing the look on his face when I mentioned the girls I added, "Or are you just hiding from them? That's considered rude. I think you deserve to get trampled by a thousand girls."

He looked at me with a strange look in his eyes. "Wow, I've never met a girl like you before. You're something different. What's your name?" He handed me my book back.

"I'll take that as a compliment. My name's Rena, and that's Jayne over there." Pointing to a still dumbstruck best friend. Lucas took my right hand and kissed it lightly.

"Pleased to meet you, Rena," he glanced over at Jayne, "And you, too, Jayne." He then dropped my hand. "I must really be going. I'll see you around." He looked at me one last time then left.

"Wow. That was… Wow. Did you see the way he looked at you? Oh my, I think I see love in the air!" Jayne exclaimed.

"There is no love anywhere, Jayne. He's just a charmer. Making girls fall at his feet then leaving them in the dirt. Besides, he would never like a girl like me. Come on, I'm hungry. I want to eat."

"Dude, if that wasn't love, I don't know what is." She got this excited look on her face. "And he's going to be judging the contest. He'll get to see your artwork." She squealed.

I sighed. "Sometimes, its hard to believe you're my best friend."

"I know. Lets go eat." She laughed.

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Thanks read &amp; review. I promise to make the next chapters longer. Sorry they're so short. :)


	3. Chapter 3

Hey Guys! Sorry, I haven't updated in a long time. I'm just real lazy. And school was just taking up most of my time with finals and sports. But since it's summer I plan to update on a regular basis now. So ENJOY!

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**CHAPTER 3**

I sigh as I see Nicole, Carly, and her minions walk up to Jayne and I. My step sisters have been extremely mean lately. probably because Lucas and his best friend Brandon have tried to get every chance they have to talk to both of us. Brandon really seems to like Jayne. I think I see a spark there. And every time they have to leave Lucas kisses my hand just like the first time we meet. Though I will never admit this out loud but I'm sorta starting to like him.

His sweet, nice, caring personality, his eyes, his lips...NO stop this Rena! He is nothing but a player! Snap out of it girl! Ok, if you, reader, ever tell anyone of my secret, I will track you down and silence you forever!(Insert maniacal laugh). Just kidding, Just kidding.

"Hey, nerds!" Nicole suddenly yells, snapping me out of my inner monologue. Nicole, Carly and their minions were 4 feet in front of Jayne and I.

"What do _you_ want?" I asked. Carly scoffed.

"For you to get out of our hallway," she said valley girl like.

Jayne rolled her eyes. "What makes you think that this is _your _hallway? Last I checked it was the school's, not yours."

Nicole and Carly put their hands on their hips. Uh oh. Something bad is going to happen. It always does. "Well, we rule the school. What we say, everyone does. So get out of our hallway. We don't have room for low-class stupid people like yourselves," Carly yelled.

"Yah. You wouldn't want mom to know of this, Rena. She'll make you do more of our work. I like the sound of that, huh? You are our maid, so it would be fair," Nicole sneered. All of the jocks and cheerleaders behind them laughed.

"We're not afraid of you. And I'm not afraid of your mom. Never have and never will be. We'll walk in this hallway as much as we like. You can't tell us what to do," I said bravely tensing up for whatever will come next. Jayne did too.

"Aw, the losers are standing up to us," Nicole said as they both took a soda from their friends. They came closer to us. I glared at them. Then, they took the lids off and dumped the soda all over our heads.

Jayne and I stand there in shock with our mouths agape while the sticky liquid that smelled like coke dripped all over our bodies. I looked up to see Nicole and Carly smiling smugly and everyone laughing and pointing at us. I glanced over at Jayne and saw that she was almost in tears. That's when I had enough. I glared at my step sisters and opened my mouth to tell them off. But, before I could I heard a voice ring out in the hallway.

"Hey! Leave them alone!" Two boys were pushing their way to the front of the crowd that had now formed. I realized that it was Lucas who shouted out; Brandon following close behind. As soon as they were in front I saw Carly and Nicole perk up and try to get Lucas attention. Well, they had his attention but it wasn't for a good reason. The two boys came to stand in front of us as if protecting us.

Which confused me. Why would they stand up for us? We were losers. People who were invisible to the world. I didn't understand until Lucas spoke up again, "Leave them alone. They are nothing but nice people and you are being completely rude to them. They are just students like yourselves. You should be ashamed to treat others this way."

Carly and Nicole looked completely shocked. Like they just got slapped. _Good_, I thought, _there's a taste of your own medicine, girls. _Everyone else in the hallway just stood still. My step sisters turned around quickly and ran away with the rest of their group. Lucas then turns to face me. I see Brandon comforting Jayne.

"Are you ok?" I nodded and told him thanks. he just smiled at me and said, "Anytime."

Brandon came up to us with a sniveling Jayne in his arms. Aw, they look so cute together. He's looking at her with adoration in his eyes. "Come on, let's get you two to the nurse to get cleaned up," Brandon said. As we started walking to the nurse's office, I saw all the witnesses still looking at us. "What are all you looking at!" They all turned back to walking and talking after I shouted at them.

Lucas chuckled at me. I glared at him. "What's so funny?" He just grinned and said, "Nothing." I stared at him for a while and then rolled my eyes. "Whatever. Are we going to go or not?"

As we walked into the nurse's office, the nurse came up to us and took us into her arms. "Aw, poor girls. Let's get you all cleaned up now. We have extra pairs of clothes if you want." She looked at Lucas and Brandon. "Thank you boys. You may go back to class now."

"If it is possible Ms. Brinkle, may we stay with them," Lucas asked. Brandon readily agreed with him.

Ms. Brinkle looked up and down at the two boys. She said hesitantly, "I guess. But, make use of yourselves. Grab those two blankets and paper towels over there."

They quickly obeyed and 20 minutes later Jayne and I were all dry, with new clothes, and smelled distinctly like coke. We thanked the nurse and walked to our 4th period class. All four of us had the same fourth period together. Weird, right?

As we were walking Lucas asked me a question I was not expecting at all. "So, are you girls going to the formal? Brandon and I are going and we wanted to know if we could all go together. Or meet each other there."

"I don't know. I wasn't planning on going..." I trailed off as I saw the deflated expression on both of the boy's faces. Jayne elbowed me. "Of course we're going," she said merrily. "We'll meet you there!"

"Great!" They both said in unison, grinning. I gave Jayne a glare mentally asking her why she said that. Lucas opened the door to history class. "After you," he said to me. I smiled at him and we walked in.

If only I knew that two certain some bodies were listening in on to our conversion.

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3rd person pov

Carly and Nicole smiled evilly at each other. They had overheard the four friends talking about the dance. They would not let Rena go no matter what. They would get their revenge for being humiliated in the hallway. Both girls waited until the ended of the day and snuck home fast so they could beat Rena there. When they reached their house and burst into the doorway, they saw their mom talking on the phone.

"Mom! Mom!" They ran up to Brenda but she put up a finger signaling them to be quiet. Carly and Nicole tried to be patient but time was running out. Rena would be home soon.

Carly grabbed her mom's phone and snapped it shut. "Carly! what do you think you are do-" Nicole interrupted her before she could say anything else.

"Mom! Rena is planning to go to the Winter Formal this Friday. With Lucas," She shouted.

Brenda looked shocked. She shook her head. "Oh, no. This won't do. This won't do. She can't go. Definitely not with Lucas."

"What should we do then? She is going to steal Lucas away from us. That little brat! Who does she think she is," Nicole shrieked. A plan formed in Brenda's head.

"Girls, This is what we are going to do. Come closer." She then told the girls a very detailed, very devious plan. They all grinned evilly at each other. The three snapped back to reality and pretended to do something when they heard the front door open.

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Yay! Another chapter down! Review please! :D


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! Thanks so much to all those who review! seriously, it made my day when I read them! Thanks so much guys! Here's chapter 4!**

**Chapter 4**

3 days later: Friday

I walked out my room into the kitchen for breakfast. I automatically knew something was wrong. You could practically feel it in the air. I heard something or someone moved in the kitchen. I walked slowly over to the doorway and looked inside. Brenda, Carly, and Nicole were sitting at the table painting their nails.

"About time you got here," Carly sneered at me from where she was sitting. Brenda, and Nicole stopped and looked at me. I felt like a trapped deer, and those three were the mama lion and her cubs.

"What's going on," I asked cautiously.

"Girls, let me talk to Rena, alone, please," Brenda asked too sweetly for my liking. The girls whined and stomped out the door, but I knew they were behind the wall secretly listening.

Brenda then turned on me and smiled. "Now, darling girl, I heard from a little birdy that you were planning to go to the formal tonight. But, you see, I have a very important task for you to do. We are going to have a little garage sale tomorrow and we need someone to get all that old junk out of the basement, and organize it into piles. We need it done by tomorrow morning. Think you can do that? I know you can."

"Wait, you want me to clean out the basement by tomorrow morning? By myself? There's no way I can do that!"

"Oh, dear. Then, you'll just have to miss the formal to get it done. How sad," She mock pouted.

She pushed me out the door; past Carly and Nicole who jumped at the sudden movement. Brenda continued to push me until we got to the entrance of the basement, and pulled me by the wrist down the stairs. We both stand there-her smugly and me with my mouth agape-looking at the thousand of boxes that were filled with junk. I could hear my step sisters snickering above me on the steps.

Brenda looks over at the two, then at me. "Well, have fun! You can start after school. Oh, and don't worry about the dance. You won't be able to go. Carly and Nicole will then dance with Lucas and get his attention." She promptly turned on her heels and left. Carly and Nicole's footsteps trailed after her.

I stood there staring helplessly at the boxes. Dreams of going to the formal and dong something fun for once burst and blew up in my head. Well, I better head to school and tell Jayne the bad news. Great. Just great. Could this day get any worse?

~.~

"No! She can't really be making you do this?" Jayne yelled. Brandon and Lucas standing with her eyes wide.

"She is," I turned to Lucas, "I'm sorry, Lucas. But, I can't go against her. She is my step mom." My eyes pleading with him to understand. He shook his head somewhat sadly.

"Don't worry. The dance isn't a big deal anyways," he paused, "Hey! I just thought of something. What if we help you with cleaning?" I was suddenly filled with hope and excitment.

"Dude, that can't work. You already promised practically the whole school-and your dad-that you would go" Brandon said. Oh, well there goes that idea. I can't let him just break his promise to the school. And I don't want to get on his dad's bad side.

"And if Rena isn't going then I'm not as well. I'm going to help her," Jayne proclaimed. Aw, that's sweet of her. But, I can't let my problem ruin her night. I know Brandon was really wanting for her to go. And by the look on his face, he's really upset. I turned to her.

"Janye, I can't let you do this. It's my prob-" she cut me off.

"Nope. I told you I'm not going to stand by and let my best friend clean up that damn mess by herself," she said. If there's one thing I know about Jayne, it's that she's not going to budge once she's made up her mind.

"Ok, Ok. Thanks. " The bell rang signaling for us to go class. We all said goodbye and walked in opposite directions.

~.~

** Sorry It's so short. I was out of ideas for this chapeter. But I have more for later. **


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